MelRotz642
This article was prompted by the news, in April 2011, that the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK is to treat pancreatic cancer by boosting patients� immune systems, and that this treatment will also be used for other cancers. Pancreatic cancer is the hardest to treat and life expectancy for patients with this cancer is short. Part of the reason for this is that the cancer is usually at an advanced stage when it is first diagnosed.
If the immune system is being used in an attempt to cure patients of severe illnesses, it is not a huge leap in the imagination or logic to suggest that boosting one�s immune system before an illness strikes may prevent that illness getting a hold in the first place. Unfortunately the NHS has not announced how it is attempting to boost patients� immune systems, only that it involves a course of injections. So what use is this news to people interested in keeping their bodies healthy? Well, there is a natural product that has been shown to boost the immune system and there have been several placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trials where this natural product has successfully treated serious illnesses. The product is aloe vera. Most people will know of aloe vera as an ingredient in cosmetics, which it is; fewer will know that this plant has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries.
Whilst I do not have pancreatic cancer, I did experience acute pancreatitis which first occurred on Christmas Eve 1999. The two main causes of pancreatitis are drinking too much alcohol and gall stones. I do not drink alcohol, and my gall bladder is fine, so my condition was diagnosed as �idiopathic�, which I am told means �peculiar to me� but I suspect really means �we don�t know the cause�!
I spent three weeks in hospital on drip feeds and without food. A month after leaving hospital I returned for a check up and was told that I had experienced a life threatening disease, and that there is no treatment. I was told to expect further attacks of pancreatitis. The next one arrived at Easter. We were visiting my wife�s parents at the time, so I was admitted to a different hospital. But the �treatment� was the same: rest the digestive system by taking nil by mouth and the use of drip feeds to nourish my body. This time I was in hospital for four weeks (life in hospital is so boring!) and, on leaving, I was again told there was no treatment.
On returning home I searched the Internet for treatments for pancreatitis. I could not understand why there was no treatment; it didn�t make sense in this day and age. Thank goodness for the Internet; I found that the Manchester Royal Infirmary, a major hospital in the North of England had, for the last 20 years, successfully treated pancreatitis by giving patients a cocktail of vitamins and antioxidants to boost their immune systems. Armed with this information I visited my doctor, only to be told there is a lot of rubbish on the Internet. When I pointed out that this treatment was carried out by a major NHS hospital, he changed his tune! It does prompt the question why there isn�t a central database holding details of these treatments that other hospitals can refer to. But that is another story.
My only problem was that Manchester is a long way from where I live and my doctor was reluctant to refer me to that hospital. Further research revealed that another hospital nearer home used the same treatment, so I went there and started the course of tablets. These met with limited effect as the problem with tablets is that they can be flushed through your system quickly and most of the effect is lost. So I switched to boosting my immune system by drinking aloe vera juice and that did the trick. I stopped the treatment after a few years thinking I had conquered the problem and a couple of months later I had another attack of pancreatitis. After resuming, and continuing, the treatment; I have not had any more trouble. My immune system is protecting me by nipping in the bud any recurrence of whatever caused the onset of pancreatitis.
Aloe vera gel is packed with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. The boost aloe vera gel juice has given to my immune system has not only protected me from further attacks of acute pancreatitis, but I haven't experienced a cold or flu for many years.
Further reading about aloe vera drink can be found here.
This articel was published first at this website.
